


Maybe It Doesn't Have to be So Blue

by Y17



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Multi, Triple Treble - Freeform, soulmates!au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-28
Updated: 2018-01-05
Packaged: 2018-12-08 06:10:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11640582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Y17/pseuds/Y17
Summary: [Soulmate AU! where you only see the world in one color (besides blacks and whites). You need to be touched by your soulmate's hand to see the world in full color. A bit of a slowburn]Beca is stuck in Barden for at least a couple of years, and she just wants to go through it without much fuss. But then, she meets the captivating captains of the Barden Bellas. And suddenly, she finds that everything wasn't just black and white—or blue, for the matter.The problem was figuring out *which* captain had touched her while she was drunk off her ass...but then again, did it really matter when said captains were already each other's soulmate?





	1. Because dying wishes are pretty solid

**Author's Note:**

> In this AU, Beca has an older brother named Brand, and Stacie and Beca know each other before Barden starts. It follows a lot of the movie's timeline and a lot of the dialogue has been from the move too because of it.
> 
> This should more or less be updated at least once a week.  
> Disclaimer: Y17 does not own Pitch Perfect and any of its characters.

**Prologue**

* * *

 

Four year old Beca knew what pain and suffering was.

She found out about pain when her mother’s world started bleeding in orange: blacks and whites, and _just_ orange. Then her father left them, and Brand, her older brother, told her that when daddy left, he had taken mummy’s colors with him too.

At first, Beca didn’t get it. Her world had always been painted in nothing but blacks, whites, and blues since she was born. What was so bad if her mother had oranges instead of blues?

When neither her daddy nor her mummy’s colors came back, Beca started to understand what her brother meant, and she started wearing gloves after that. The four year old Beca knew that gloves were only worn by people whose soulmates were dead. But Beca had decided she didn’t care about that or her soulmate either.

What was the point of giving color to someone when you’re just going to take it away?

The concept of suffering was understood for the following six years of Beca’s life. This time, she wasn’t sure where she understood it from. Maybe she got it from watching her brother—Brand used to be jovial and free spirited, careless and free. Beca felt like her daddy took Brand away too, and then her with a different brother, instead. Beca loved Brand all the same.

 Maybe it was from her mother, who not only had to pick up the pieces of herself for her children, but also because she was told that a terminal illness only left her with a few years to live.

Whichever it was, ten year old Beca was well aware that the tight feeling in her chest she gets whenever she thought of her sick mom was called pain. And ten year old Beca knew that the moment her mommy’s grip on either of Beca’s or Brand’s hand slackened, Beca would feel suffering for a long while.

Her mother took a deep shaky breath. “I’m _so_ proud of the two of you,” her voice was weak. Her eyes flickered between Brand and Beca. She tried for a smile. “Promise me something, okay? Give mommy a gift before she goes?”

Beca didn’t know why her eager nodding brought a tear sliding down her mommy’s cheeks. “I want you two to live good, alright? Finish school, go to college and follow your dreams, loves. And _never_ forget to have each other’s backs, okay?”

* * *

**(8 years later)**

* * *

 

Stupid.

All around campus, parents were dropping off their kids, who in turn were trying to shake hands with practically every person they meet. And the whole sight of it looked stupid to Beca. Seriously, it never ceases to amaze her how desperate people are to find their soulmate.

Beca sure as hell wasn’t. In fact, the universe would be doing her a favor if she could just breeze through this college thing without a single drop of soulmate drama. She found it ridiculous that she has to wait for some stranger’s hand to graze on some part of her skin to see the world in full color. And said stranger would make her life _complete_. Right.

Beca has lived her entire life seeing only blue—and she’s completely convinced that she doesn’t need to see the world in any other color. So, nope, no soulmate drama for her.

Unfortunately, the universe didn’t seem to agree.

It didn’t even take an hour for some goofy kid in a car to start serenading her with “Wayward.” It was accompanied by a one-handed attempt at air guitar, and one outstretched hand begging to be shaken. The goofy kid had boyish good looks, Beca gave him that. Still, she just smirked at him, showing her perfectly gloved hands, before turning her attention back to the Barden Greeters.

“…and your official BU rape whistle. Don’t blow it unless it’s actually happening! Nobody likes that.”

Rape whistle? Jesus, Barden was weird. Beca accepted said whistle, placing it carefully on her lips with a coy grin. She kept her eyes on the greeter, walking away backwards without a word of thanks.

Beca may or may not take pleasure in antagonizing people.

“Oh my god, you little hogmonkey! I can’t believe it’s been 15 fucks since I last saw you!”

Now, _that_ was one of the very few people who could away with antagonizing _her_. And yeah, Stacie Conrad had a habit of using her number of fucks as a time reference. Why “15 fucks” comes more naturally than “a month or so” to her, Beca would never understand. Had never understood in all the five years Beca knew her. But hey, her best friend has always been special that way.

Beca could swear that having Stacie as a roommate was the only upside of this situation. She eyed the leggy brunette’s side of the room, and saw that Stacie’s things had been unpacked and neatly placed.

“Dude, when did you get here?”

Stacie rolled her eyes, and tried to restrain from make a quip about Beca never checking her phone. “Yesterday—like you should have been. Brand’s been worried _sick_ ; you’re still not mad at him, are you?”

Stacie was also her older brother’s soulmate.

Beca just shook her head, systematically setting up all her music equipment on her side of the room. Beca understood where her brother was coming from. It was their mother’s dying wish. But Beca was pretty sure that when her mom said ‘live good,’ it didn’t mean that everything else that followed after that was the perfect formula for it.

Also, it was exasperating that Brand felt a need to hold up all her inheritance money to ensure she didn’t just run away to LA on her own. Real mature.

“…hide your wine coolers!”

And then, there was her dad.

Dr. Mitchell invited himself in the room as he said, “I’m kidding. It’s just your ol’ man trying to make a funny.” Stacie smiled at him politely, kissing him on the cheek, “Hey, Warren.”

“Chris Rock, everybody.”

“So when did you get here? _How_ did you get here?”

Beca finally turned, and gave her dad her full attention. “Took a cab. Didn’t want to inconvenience you and Sheila. How _is_ the stemponster?”

“She’s great! She’s—”

Beca snorted, “Don’t really care, dad. Just wanted to say ‘stepmonster.’” She could feel Stacie trying not to giggle. Beca figured she should save herself from anymore bullshit than this.  She looked her father in the eye, and folded her arms.

“Look, dad, I don’t know what you’re trying to do right now, but let’s just make it clear one more time,” Beca said in a bored tone. “I’m going to college, because Mom and Brand want me to. I’m _here_ , because you offered to help me move to LA as long as I went to Barden for just two years. And since Brand has made it perfectly clear that I won’t be getting my money till four years, yours was the better offer. And said offer doesn’t really require me to interact with you in anyway, so I won’t—praise Jesus, halleluiah.”

It took an awkward beat of silence before Stacie announced, “I’m going to the Activities Fair.”

Beca gave her a thankful smirk, before changing it to one filled with sarcasm, as she turned to her father. “Well, then so am I. Show yourself out, dad. You’re good at that, aren’t you?”

* * *

“Basically, what we do is we join arms in a large ring and we run clockwise and sometimes we’ll do variations on that.”

Beca doesn’t even want to get started how Stacie had managed to get them roped into the Running in a Circle Booth. She’s tired from her flight, and she just really wanted to make a quick round in the activities fair, before going back to her (hopefully) empty room. She had no intentions of joining anything at all.

Another club representative picked up on their conversation. “It’s really about movement and, health, circulation—mimicking the earth’s orbit around the sun.”

Stacie frowned. “But the earth’s orbit is elliptical.”

Everyone in the booth stopped whatever they were doing, and snapped their heads towards Stacie. All their eyes widened, and someone shouted, “Sacrilege!!”

Beca quickly grabbed Stacie’s hands, tugging her out of there. “Yeah,” she said. “We’re, uh, just going to go now and look around.”

She tugged Stacie out of there fast. But she could hear one of the representatives shouting from the distance, “ _Around_! You could do _so_ well here!”

By the time Beca slowed down, they were already on the other side of the fair. Stacie and Beca shared a look, before bursting out in laughter.

They continued roaming around the fair. Beca didn’t really care for it, so she was playing a game of “how many numbers can Stacie get from hot guys today?” So far, the leggy brunette was at phone number twelve. They were on their way to the Swimming Club’s booth when someone interrupted them.

 “Hi! Any interest in auditioning for our a capella group?”

Beca was not a fan of strangers suddenly approaching her, so by the time she was turning to face the owner of the voice, a snarky reply was already on her lips…except it died.

And the cause of death was staring at her with clear blue eyes that _stood out_ against every single thing in her vision. _Don’t be weird, Beca_ , she chided, and quickly averted her gaze to the flyer being handed to her.

“A capella. Oh right, this is a thing now,” she said. Nice one, Mitchell. Smooth. Now, all she had to do is look at the other girl instead of that _very_ dangerous pretty blue eyes.

 _Useless_. Said other girl was just as distracting as Blue Eyes…for completely different reasons. Beca backtracked. Okay, in all fairness, the other girl was hot too, with hair nicely kept in big curls. And yeah, drop-dead gorgeous. But what actually ticked Beca off was the other girl’s eyes on her, as if she was being dissected alive, her soul being judged. Beca hated it.

“Totes. We sing covers of songs but do it without any instruments—it all comes from our mouths!”

This seemed to pick up Stacie’s interests. “Interesting. What _else_ can you do with your mouths?” The sexual undertone was evident, and Beca tried not to bark out a ‘ _Stacie, heel!_ ’ There was no heeling Stacie Conrad.

Thankfully enough, Blue Eyes took it in stride, laughing before going on about the other a capella groups in Barden.

Beca took the time observing the two…Bellas (?). She noticed that the two of them were wearing identical soulmate bands through a necklace. Huh. Figures that pretty Blue Eyes was the soulmate of drop dead gorgeous Other Girl.

(Beca tried to ignore the weird and unfounded feeling that saunters up to her stomach at the revelation.)

She wondered if there was a story as to why they didn’t wear the rings on their fingers instead. Soulmate bands were really symbolic, after all. Take Stacie and Brand’s for example. Their bands were matching earrings, for some cheesy reasons Beca didn’t wish to recall.

“So, are _you_ interested?”

Blue Eyes directed the question at her, so she took a glance at her best friend. Stacie seemed to be hooked, since she was already signing her name in a sheet. Beca shrugged. “I don’t know. Seems pretty lame.”

“Aca-scuse me? Synchronized lady dancing to a “Mariah Carey”-chart topper is _not_ lame.”

The venom in Other Girl’s voice was evident, to Beca’s amusement.

“We sing all over the world and compete in national championships—”

“On purpose?”

“We played the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center, you bitch!”

Beca felt a satisfied smirk creep up at her face, when Other Girl snapped. But she was distracted by Blue Eyes who quickly tried to make peace, “What Aubrey means to say is that we’re a close-knit, talented group of ladies whose dream is to return to the national finals at Lincoln Center this year.” Blue Eyes said, her voice was dripping with honey. “Help us turn our dreams into a reality?”

Stacie handed Beca the signup sheet expectantly. She could feel Stacie’s amusement and curiosity on what Beca was going to do next.

“Sorry, I don’t even sing, so…it was nice meeting you.” She tried for an apologetic smile, but failed when she saw how wound up Other Girl—Aubrey looked. Her smile ended up as more of the satisfied smirk she had worn before.

“See you at auditions!” Stacie laughed as she was dragged away by the little lying brunette.


	2. Never disrespect the whistle gods—ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, thank you so much for the kudos and the comments.  
> I really appreciate each and every one of them :)
> 
> Oh, and I apologize for any grammatical errors and mistakes. English isn't my first language.

Kuddos to Stacie and Brand.

The college thing wasn’t as insufferable as she thought it would be. And Stacie being here was what made that true. Beca even found herself a nice little rhythm to her college life.

She sleeps through her classes—(they said _go_ to college, not _pass_ her classes), and wakes up just in time for brunch. She was able to land herself an internship at Barden’s radio station, and her shift covers lunch up till two. It wasn’t what she expected, though. Stacking CDs, who would’ve thought? It’s there that she finds Mr. Wayward to be one Jesse Swanson.

“So what’s your deal? You one of those girls who’s all dark and mysterious until she takes off her glasses, and that amazingly scary ear spike, and you realize she was beautiful the whole time?”

Wow. Just when Beca thought there wasn’t a way she could find Wayward Boy to be less attractive. Jesse grins at her as if he hadn’t told her his standard of interests were reduced to a shallow sense of beauty objectification and stereotypes.

But Beca wasn’t really interested in keeping their conversation going, so all she replied with was, “I don’t wear glasses.”

It didn’t work. The guy somehow holds the conversation, and their banter turned out to be not so bad. It was almost fun. Almost. She just couldn’t decide whether ‘cocky’ or ‘full of himself’ described the guy better.

“Ha! You’re terrific. Just wait. You’ll go all squidy and drape yourself all over me. It’ll be fun—you’ll see.”

Right. Fun was finishing up her shift at the radio, and grabbing a late lunch which she ate in the quad. Only a few people are out there during the time she arrives. She claimed herself her territory with the most perfect shade the nearby trees could give, and then she spends the rest of the daylight either working on her mixes, or listening to new music. Afterwards, she’d meet up with Stacie for dinner (when her best friend wasn’t busy shagging someone). And then, for some days, she’d go to the club where she scored gigs a few nights a week and go DJ her night out.

 Yes, Beca was quite satisfied with how she was making the most of her forced college life.

* * *

It’s on her first Thursday that Beca noticed Other Girl…Avery…Aud—Aubrey! She noticed that Aubrey comes to the quad at exactly 3:03 PM in the afternoon, looks around for a free corner, and buries herself in books, and then leaves by 5:00 PM. Beca found it weird how precise her observation was. But it wasn’t till the next week, though, that Beca made use of this information.

It’s not like she actively waited to watch Aubrey look around the quad for free space—that was weird. It’s just that, for some unexplainable reason, it just _catches_ her attention…Beca decided to ignore that maybe that was just as weird. _It’s because I’ve already met Aubrey_ , she reasoned.

Anyway, Beca was having a pretty normal day, and she had expected the rest of the day to play out the same as it usually did. That is, up until Aubrey found herself a spot, and some guy rudely dumped his stuff at said spot.

Beca grinned, and unconsciously placed her headphones to her shoulders. The spot was relatively near her nook by the tree, and she found it amusing to watch the Bella verbally duke it out with the rude guy…and that was _all_ she was going to do, really.

Except, the guy had shoved Aubrey off in his annoyance. And before Beca’s brain could catch up, she was already on her feet, smoothly shoving the guy back as she turned to Aubrey.

“Hey, Aubrey,” Beca gave her a rather friendly smirk, before she gave the rude guy her scariest glare. “I’m pretty sure whatever space this jerk and his stuff touched has already infested and rotted the grass it’s on—I’ve got a better spot.”

Beca reckoned that Aubrey was probably pretty much too shocked by her sudden appearance to have put on any resistance when Beca grabbed her books and made her way to her nook, expecting Aubrey to follow.

And she did.

“I didn’t need your help,” was the thanks Beca received. The brunette rolled her eyes as she sat down, and set Aubrey’s books on her side.

“I wasn’t helping _you_ —I was saving the jerk you looked ready to murder.” Beca didn’t wait for the girl’s reply after that, as she put her headphones back on her ears, and hacked away at her laptop. When she felt that Aubrey hadn’t exactly moved, and began staring at her in the same way that she did in the activities fair (the same gaze that Beca had hated), Beca glared back.

Seriously, Beca’s spot was pretty good, and was spacious enough for the both of them. The shade was perfect, and people generally avoided the area because of Beca’s intimidating aura. If Other Girl didn’t appreciate the offer, she could just scram.

Aubrey didn’t scram.

She let out a huff before taking the spot beside Beca, and started reading her books. Neither of them conversed; they just went about what they usually did in the quad, and Aubrey left at 5:00 PM without a word.

The next day, Beca looked up to watch Aubrey make her way to the quad—like she said, it _catches_ her attention (Beca hates that she gets defensive even in her own thoughts). But this time, Aubrey doesn’t look around. Instead, she meets Beca’s gaze, and Beca couldn’t help but smirk and cock her head to a side.

Even from the distance, she saw Aubrey roll her eyes, but Aubrey made her way towards Beca anyway. Aubrey sat down beside her, the way she had the day before. And just when Beca thinks that they’ll go about their own thing, Aubrey turned to her.

“Here,” she said, handing her a paper bag. She curiously opens it up, and is surprised to find some chocolate chip cookies. Beca had a sweet tooth—sue her. But then, she remembers the reason why she had cookies in her hands, and reins in her expression to a quizzical one.

This time, Aubrey turned away, and if Beca knew her any better, she would’ve thought Other Girl seemed embarrassed. “I noticed you usually had some kind of snack in the quad—thank you, for sharing your spot.”

Beca did _not_ spend the next minute glancing back and forth from the cookies to Other Girl in shock. She did _not_ happily thank and share the cookies with Other Girl. And she did _not_ eagerly gobble up her share, as she _not_ satisfyingly made her mixes in the quad. But like yesterday, neither of them talked after the initial conversation, and Aubrey left without a word.

So Beca had found herself a new rhythm. For the rest of the week, Aubrey would join her in the quad with a different batch of cookies they could share, and they’d go about their own things, before Aubrey left. Aubrey always left first. Beca liked to stay and wrung out every last daylight she could get.

It was nice. They don’t even talk anymore, unlike the first two days. But there was some form of contentment in sharing her space with Aubrey. Whatever.

* * *

“Hey, Stacie, do you remember the taller girl from the Barden Bellas Booth in the activities fair?”

_Shit_. The question flew out of Beca’s mouth before she could stop it.

The DJ knew the day wasn’t going to be a good one the moment she woke up two hours earlier than she usually did—if she hadn’t, then she wouldn’t have caught Stacie before she went to class; she couldn’t have asked the stupid question.

Stacie looked at her weirdly. “The blonde chick who called you a bitch? What about her?”

Blonde.

She wondered what blonde looked like. That was a question that Beca would find herself occupied in later, but for now, she had the predicament of trying to come up with a legitimate reason for randomly bringing up said blonde. (For some odd reason, Beca didn’t feel like sharing her quad time with Aubrey.)

Luckily, she was saved from answering by the door suddenly swinging open.

“Funny. This doesn’t look like your “Intro to Philosophy” class.”

She rolled her eyes, and Stacie smirked at her. They had taken bets when her father dearest would find out and confront Beca about her skipping class. Stacie had won.

“I’m posing an important philosophical question: If I don’t actually go to class, will that class still suck?”

Warren Mitchell looked at his daughter exasperatedly. “Okay, I know you’re mad at me. I get it. But I can’t just let you waste your life in this room while you fiddle around with technical equipment—”

“Jesus, I’m not _wasting_ my life, I’m making music! _Ugh_ —”

“—College is the transition period that prepares you for all the scary things life is going to throw at you. You create memories here. I see it every day. Beca, you’ve been here a month. Do you even have any friends?”

She throws him an exasperated look and points exaggeratingly at her roommate.

“Stacie doesn’t count.”

“ _Hey!_ Stacie is just here—and she resents that,” Stacie exclaimed.

Her father pinches the bridge of his nose, and sighs. “This is the time in your life to try some new things, explore— _not_ fixate on this DJ thing.”

He folded his arms and looked his daughter in the eyes, mimicking the way she had addressed him a month before. “Look, Beca, just do something new. And if in a year, you _still_ don’t want to be here, if you still want to try to be some big time music producer, then…you can quit college and I’ll help you move to LA just like I said.”

Beca’s eyes widened. “Whoa, whoa—just _a year_ now? Seriously?”

“Yes, seriously.” Warren turned to leave, but stops to add, “But I need to really see it, Beca. You got to get out there. Make friends. Join in. This is college!”

She crashes down her bed and looks back and forth from the closed door and her roommate. “That really happened, right? I hold you as witness to that deal.”

Stacie just shook her head in amusement, as she fixed her bag for her class. “You should come audition with me for the Bellas. It’ll be fun! And if it sucks, at least you still get to hang out with me. So a lot of birds in one stone, ammiright?”

Beca was going to give her a remark about how lame that sounded, but said remark died on her lips when her thoughts crossed to _Aubrey_. “Sure,” was out of her lips before she could stop it.

Stacie did a double take, obviously not expecting such an easy reply. Or maybe, she was trying to figure out whether Beca meant it sarcastically. You never know with the DJ. Whatever it was though, Stacie didn’t have time for it. She had to be early if she wanted to sit beside the hot guy in class.

Slinging her bag over her arms, Stacie addressed her roommate one last time, “If you shower now, you might be able to catch up with your second class!”

* * *

“ _I’m bulletproof, nothing to lose, fire away, fire away…”_

Beca continued humming as she picked up a stall to shower in and take her bathrobe off. She removed her gloves and gingerly placed it in the shower caddie she hung up.

“You _can_ sing!!”

**Jesus fucking Christ on a barbeque stick!** Beca violently backed away from the sudden invader, and quickly tried to cover her bits with her loofa. Her mind suddenly flashed to the rape whistle she was given.

“How high does your belt go?”

“My _what_?!” Beca exclaimed, and she finally recognizes her intruder to be Blue Eyes.

“You have to audition for the Bellas!”

And then suddenly, the Blue Eyes’ blue eyes weren’t the only things that were grabbing her attention. “I can’t concentrate on anything you’re saying till you cover your junk!”

“Just consider it. One time we sang back up for Prince. His butt is so tiny, I can hold it with one hand.”

“Seriously, I am _nude_.”

“You were singing “Titanium” right?”

That made Beca pause, and a slightly patronizing smirk formed on her lips. She risked looking at her invader in the eyes. “You know David Guetta?”

“What, have I been living under a rock? That song is my jam…my _lady_ _jam._ ”

“That’s nice,” Beca whispered. Because no, anything else and she might have had to use the rape whistle. And at this point, if she did, she wouldn’t be sure who she would be whistling it for. And just _fuck_.

“Yeah it is! The song really _builds_ —”

“Gross!”

“Will you sing it for me?”

“Ew! No! Get the hell out of here!” she said, the urgency in her voice rising. She tried to grab the shower curtain to cover herself up when it gets ripped out by her hand, and someone _else_ enters the stall.

What the fuck was wrong with this university? Beca makes a mental reminder to thank the Barden Greeter who gave her the stupid rape whistle. Maybe this was punishment for not taking the whistle seriously?

“Chloe! We’re going to be late! Why haven’t you started showering y—”

Intruder number two turns out to be Aubrey. Of course _,_ it was fucking Aubrey. Beca tries not to feel the panic rising. _Oh God of Whistles, I apologize for not taking the rape whistle seriously. No dissing whistles anymore—I promise._

Fuck, this was just fucking perfect. A small part of Beca’s brain was arguing whether or not it was a relief that Aubrey was at least wearing a towel.

When Aubrey stares/glares at her this time, Beca is _sure_ that the blonde was definitely dissecting and judging her soul. Blue eyes interrupts her thoughts (ehem, fears) though.

“Not for that reason! Look, I’m not leaving here until you sing so…”

Blue Eyes—Chloe’s declaration seemed like it was directed to both the blonde and the brunette.

“This is ridiculous!”

“But I can stand here all da~ay.”

She risked a glance at Aubrey, her eyes pleading for help. But the blonde was turned away from her. Her expression seemed to say, _Seriously, Chloe?_  But it didn’t really have an effect on intruder 1.

Beca turned her back to them, and moved even further to the corner of the wall. If she stayed any longer here, she was going to feel too trapped—which was bad. She was claustrophobic, and Beca could feel the panic slowly rising up in her belly.

She was _naked_ , her hands were _ungloved_ , and she felt utterly _vulnerable_. She was surprised that the panic was even taking its time.

Fuck it.

“ _I’m bulletproof, nothing to lose, fire away, fire away…_ ”

Chloe harmonizes with her, “— _Brick of shame take your aim, fire away, fire away…”_

And to her surprise, Aubrey joins as if she couldn’t help herself. Some part of Beca was relieved to see that Aubrey’s expression seemed to be as shocked, overwhelmed and incredulous as hers was.

 “ _You shoot me down, but I won’t fall. I am titanium. You shoot me down but I won’t fall. **I am titanium**.”_

They sounded awesome together. Honestly, it was eargasmic to Bec—aaand, now the wordings of her own thoughts have broken the moment she was sharing with the two _naked_ and _hot_ women who were each other’s fucking _soulmates_.

“Yeah, I’m pretty confident about all this,” Chloe said, motioning her body.

Beca blushed, and looked away as Aubrey narrowed her eyes at her. But she manages to mumble out a choked out, “You should be.”

Fucking Christ on a barbecue stick.


	3. What happens on Hood Night stays on Hood Night

Fast and easy.

That was how Chloe Beale loved. Chloe loved dogs from the first pup she saw. She loved music from probably the first note she heard as a child (her parents always told her music made parenting her infinitely easier). And she loved baking the first time she watched a cooking show.

So obviously, Chloe loves Beca’s voice the first time she heard it in the showers. And she loves it even more when she hears it during Bellas audition. It was no wonder that she found herself walking fast, trying to catch up with the brunette who had all but fled the moment she finished filling up the forms Aubrey had made Beca fill out.

 “Hey! Wait up!”

Beca finally stopped and turned towards her, and Chloe finds herself hating that she doesn’t know what blue _looks_ like—the girl’s eyes were too black to be real, so it must be blue. It’s the only color she (and Bree) couldn’t see.

Chloe has never been frustrated about it like this before. Because why would she be? Her world was beautiful with all its reds and yellows, and every color in between them—her world was beautiful with _Aubrey_. And the lack of blue meant that somewhere around the world, there was someone who could even make that _more_ beautiful.

(Aubrey’s views on their third soulmate may or may not be as optimistic. In fact, Chloe thinks Aubrey isn’t _completely_ convinced that there’s a third one. Maybe they were really just color blind?)

But the feeling that surges up in her chest is undeniably frustration—and it’s over the fact that she couldn’t place a definitive color on the brunette’s eyes.

“Hey, dude, chill,” is Beca’s response to her, as Chloe tries to steady her breaths from all the chasing. Chloe grins at her, “I thought you were running away from me.”

Beca gives her this amused and incredulous smirk that Chloe reads as, s _eriously, where would I even run away to? The shower?_ It makes Chloe laugh until she notices the expectant look on the brunette’s face.

“I was wondering if you would get some coffee with me some time.”

This time, Beca drops her smirk and the expression on her face is bewilderment…and slight fear? “Uh, don’t you have a soulmate for that?”

Exactly. Chloe has a soulmate who the brunette spends time with every weekday of the week. And she can _not_ understand how Bree could spend hours with her without talking about anything! She’s absolutely brimming with curiosity about Beca.

So she exclaimed, “Not for that reason! You don’t really want me to try to convince you again, do you?” Chloe asks mischievously, and takes pride on the incoherent noise Beca sputters. And just because she couldn’t help herself, Chloe adds, “Besides, don’t you want to get to know me? That way you don’t have to call me as the ‘superhot naked girl I met in my shower’ in your head anymore.”

Chloe sends Aubrey a silent thank you for giving her the color red, because Chloe would never forget the absolute blush that creeps into the brunette’s face.

“I do _NOT_ think of you like that in my head! And please don’t say that in public!!” Beca said defensively.

But Chloe just turns around, and starts to go on her way, as she shouts, “So coffee then! I’ll get your number from the signup sheet you gave Bree!”

* * *

They don’t really end up going out for coffee—well they did, but it turned out to be such a small part of their day, because Chloe learns that Beca hasn’t been around Barden at all. So she takes it upon herself to show the brunette to different places in town each time they met up—and yes, it was becoming a regular thing.

It was surprisingly easy to talk to her; Beca doesn’t judge. Also, Chloe likes talking. She likes sharing, and she likes how Beca listened, how Beca makes sure to do little things that tells Chloe she’s interested in whatever the redhead was babbling about.

Beca, however, does not talk as much Chloe does. But still, she thinks she’s found a lot for just three meetings. Beca wanted to go to LA instead of Barden, but her father convinced her to stay here. Beca’s been to _a lot_ of places, because she likes travelling. And Beca doesn’t like talking about her family, or her soulmate.

Chloe thinks that if Aubrey died, she wouldn’t like talking about it either…but she also has this small doubt that maybe Beca’s soulmate isn’t really dead. Beca talks a lot about the girl she was with during the activities Fair—Stacie. Beca talks about Stacie a lot and _fondly_. Roommates is what Beca told her. And it may have been implied that Stacie loved sleeping around.

But Chloe knows that gloved hands could mean two things: a dead soulmate, or having a non-mutual soulmate (in other words, your soulmate’s soulmate isn’t you). Either way would suck for Beca, so Chloe doesn’t really comment on it. She wasn’t so insensitive as to just randomly bring up a person’s gloved hand.

The biggest reason why Chloe liked hanging out with the brunette was probably the fact that Beca seemed to love music more than she did—and that was saying something. That was also the reason why ‘showing Beca around Barden’ may as well have been just showing her around the different music shops in town. Also:

Beca owns a turn table!!!

She tells Aubrey as much, who in turn responded that she didn’t expect it from the brunette. The redhead rolled her eyes playfully, because, _duh, how could you when you don’t even talk to each other, Bree?_

But then, Aubrey comments on how often the ‘alt girl’ (her words, not Chloe’s) was cropping up in their conversations. Aubrey even teased her that the redhead might just be having a big crush on the brunette.

(She knows Aubrey was just teasing—neither of them were the jealous type.)

Still, she doesn’t understand why she acted so defensively to the insinuation. For serious, Chloe Beale was someone who falls slow and hard. Even when they found out that they were each other’s soulmates, Chloe spent the first chunk of their relationship unable to think of Aubrey as a lover—the line between friendly and intimate physical contact is quite blurred with the redhead.

 If anything, the redhead should be worried about her soulmate instead. Contrary to popular belief, Aubrey falls in love the same way Chloe loves—fast and easy.

* * *

In the future, Chloe would blame Aubrey’s lack of sharing for this (hot) mess.

 _Yes,_ Chloe had interacted _more_ with Beca last week than Aubrey ever did, but _no_ , Chloe did _not_ notice the brunette’s aversion to touch. Beca never displayed them when they were together, and Chloe liked physical contact. So assuming such aversions would have been quite contradictory from her experiences of walking with the brunette with their arms chained together!

(Also in the future, Chloe will find out that it’s because Beca intentionally wears a lot of sleeves whenever she knew Chloe was going to be around.)

Anyway, tonight was Initiation Day and Hood Night. And they had saved kidnapping Beca and Stacie for last. They were roommates, so it’d be hard to stuff their heads in a sack with just one person.

It didn’t take long for Aubrey to convince Baker’s RA to lend the spare key to Beca and Stacie’s room.

The lights off made them worry though. According to their sources, neither of their recruits left the dormitory yet, so they _should_ be here. Were they asleep? It would be easier if they were.

But Chloe doesn’t think people like Stacie would be sleeping in on a Friday night…she seemed like someone who slept _with_ on Friday nights.

Whatever the case, there was only one way they were going to find out. She turned to look at her soulmate who took a deep breath and said, “Let’s do this, Chloe.”

Aubrey quietly opened the door, and they saw that neither of their occupants were asleep. The only things that lit the whole room were the laptops Stacie and Beca were using. Both of them had their backs to the door, the first wearing earphones and the latter with headphones.

Chloe grinned—this was going to be fun.

Aubrey turned to Stacie who looked like she was skyping someone (?). And the blonde expertly slugged the sack on the leggy brunette’s head, and ended the skype call in one motion.

“What the fsdmss!!@#”

Luckily, the commotion didn’t seem to stir Beca at all. And it was no wonder, since even from two feet away, Chloe could already hear the music from her headphones. She tried not to get distracted by the programs Beca was working with. Her whole table looked like something you’d see in a music studio or a DJ’s booth! She couldn’t help it, Chloe was curious by nature. She managed to focus enough though, and was just about to swivel Beca’s chair to make the brunette face her, but—Beca reacted.

It happened _too_ fast.

One moment, Chloe was reaching out to Beca’s bare shoulder, and the next thing she knew, she was pinned to the wall, hands above her head, secured by Beca’s gloved hand.

Chloe was hyper aware of how the brunette’s legs trapped hers in between, and how close she was—her face was only a two inches away. Their eyes locked, and Beca’s were slightly glazed, and wide with emotion…a slight confusion, alarm—a lot of anger.

Beca was _terrifying_ …and arousi—

“ _Get the aca-fuck away from her_!”

The shrill shriek from Aubrey seemed to have snapped Beca out of whatever trance she was in, and then recognition was seeping through her gaze. Beca jumped off of her, as if Chloe was a boiling pot she’d accidentally brushed her hands on.

Beca was also slightly trembling.

“What the fuck is _wrong_ with you guys?!”

This time it was Stacie. She must have gotten away from Aubrey’s hold, as the brunette quickly grabbed a bottle from her table. The little DJ relaxed almost immediately when Stacie held her, guiding her to sit on her bed and take a sip of water.

Stacie knelt on the floor in front of the brunette, and cupped Beca’s face so gently—Chloe almost looked away; it seemed _too intimate_. She felt like she was intruding on something important.

But Chloe _couldn’t_ look away. There was some ugly feeling crawling up her chest, as she watched Stacie gingerly holding Beca’s cheeks, whispering things that seemed to sooth the DJ. The ugly feeling hadn’t allowed Chloe to do anything but watch.

Stacie kissed the DJ’s forehead, and they could see the smaller brunette completely relax. The ugly feeling doubled in her chest.

“What the _hell_ was _that_?” Stacie demanded in a very cold voice.

Chloe’s decided that the ugly feeling was _just_ guilt. (It certainly wasn’t. But guilt was definitely the overwhelming feeling right now). Aubrey moved towards them. She stopped though, when she reached Chloe, as if unsure whether or not any closer would be welcomed.  It was Aubrey who spoke first, “We’re _so_ sorry.”

And then Aubrey started uncharacteristically ranting, each word is uttered faster than the one that came before. “It’s just that you two have been accepted as Bellas! Tonight is Initiation Night, and it’s a tradition to bring you guys with sacks over your heads, so that we can swear you into the group and bring you in for Hood Night. We really didn’t mean to be insensitive. It was a lacking on our part that we didn’t consider something like this might happen, and—”

“Didn’t know the Bellas was a sorority.”

All three pairs of eyes were turned to Beca who was wearing a smirk, as if she could possibly know that the statement she said was something that’d piss Aubrey off. But there was something soft in Beca’s eyes that was telling them she wasn’t mad, that it was okay. It was Chloe’s and Stacie’s turn to slightly slump their shoulders in relief…

…However, the statement Beca uttered _was_ indeed something Aubrey would get absolutely _pissed_ about.

“Aca-scuse me, bitch, we are _not_ a sorority!”

* * *

Aubrey looked at the new Bellas joyfully gush as she announced their new status. She particularly kept an eye on the only one who wasn’t squealing—Beca.

Aubrey doesn’t really know what to think of her.

She respects the little midget, that’s for sure—she wouldn’t be able to spend two hours of silence beside the brunette if she didn’t. And Chloe seemed to be utterly fond with the hobbit. Her soulmate insists that Aubrey and Beca a lot in common more than she realized.

She doesn’t know what to think of that either. It’s been a while since someone’s had Chloe smitten as she was with the midget right now—Aubrey has long learned to accept that her soulmate has too much love and affection to be concentrated on just one person. And she knows that her soulmate wouldn’t ever be unfaithful to her. The two of them respect each other too much for that.

But Aubrey couldn’t help but feel there was something _different_ this time. The redhead has met up with Beca for just three times, and each time the redhead seemed more hooked. And said times don’t even include the shower incident…which Aubrey tries even harder not to think about, because then she’d remember alt girl’s roaming eyes on her soulmate’s body. And she’ll be forced to question why she wasn’t pissed at the girl or at her soulmate’s encouraging—seriously, okay, Aubrey _gets it_ , Chloe was hot. No one knows how hot the redhead was more than Aubrey, so she couldn’t blame either of them. But neither could the two of them blame her for _not_ being okay with it.

 And Aubrey is trying her damn best not to dwell on the fact that she slightly was.

Jesus, at this point, between graduating, the Bellas, Beca, and Beca being in the Bellas, just the mention of the midget gave Aubrey a brain freeze. Beca was just so…just _too_ alternative to the people she usually knows and understands. And as if everything else wasn’t enough, the moment alt girl opens her mouth, Aubrey’s patience flies out the window. She thinks that if she googled ‘Beca Mitchel,’ she would get a suggestion that says _do you mean: infuriating._

Aubrey concludes that she likes Beca Mitchell the way she likes her coffee—silent.

“We did it.” Chloe naturally slides up beside her, and laces their hands together. The comfort that follows is something that Aubrey welcomed. But then, Fat Amy comes up to them, and grabs the chalice of Boone’s Farm and chugs it down with one gulp.

“Did we?”

Whatever the answer was, Aubrey left it to dust, as she led the group to the Hood Night party. She instructs them to soften the beach, and heads down to mingle with her fellow aca-people. She was determined to squeeze the Bellas’ 200% to get to the ICCAs, but tonight, before everything started, she would relax.

…except she couldn’t. Her eyes were glued once again to the alt girl, and the familiar irritation crept in her veins. Beca seemed to be too engaged in her conversation with the Treblemaker newbie.

“Whoa, I’m pretty sure that you’re eye-raping one of them—my question is _which_ one?”

Aubrey abruptly broke her gaze, and turned to the owner of the voice. She found it to be Stacie Conrad—another girl she didn’t know how to feel about. Not after watching the way she had held the alt girl in their room.

That memory brought on even more unwanted feelings than the shower incident, and Aubrey’s thoughts weren’t losing to the turmoil of feelings inside her either.

Stacie seemed like an alright kind of girl, if Aubrey ignored the rumors surrounding the freshman. From the sign-up sheet, she knows that Stacie was smart and responsible enough—she had to be if she was going to double degree Biomedical Engineering and Computer Science, and if she wanted to stay in said programs. Aubrey could respect that. But it’s her relationship with the alt girl that throws her off.

A month or so in the semester, Stacie had started randomly coming by the quad, just as Aubrey was starting to leave. The brunette had always casted her this odd and amused curious look, before she sat down and took Aubrey’s spot beside the DJ (which did _not_ slightly annoy the blonde).

Aubrey liked to think that she was observant. But for all her observational skills, she couldn’t find enough to fit all the details together. For example, Aubrey is almost sure that Beca couldn’t see colors—which would explain the glove. But Aubrey also noticed that Beca and Stacie always wore a similar ring on their ears. It could almost pass off as a soulmate band—which didn’t make sense, with all the rumors going around Stacie. And although the alt girl’s glove has other implications, it wouldn’t at all fit with Aubrey’s theory on Beca’s vision. See? A headache—just like Aubrey said. And to make matters worse, Aubrey couldn’t place a finger on why she actually cared about all of it enough to give her a headache.

“Um, hello—earth to Aubrey? Did the mental image of getting it on with them fry your brain or something?”

Aubrey snapped back to the conversation, slightly embarrassed that she had zoned out. But never the less, she expertly picked up where they left off, “What are you talking about? Beca is clearly in danger of getting Treble-boned, and as captain, I’m keeping an eye on her.”

Stacie scoffed smugly in reply. “Then why aren’t you eye-raping Kori over there,” Stacie said. And the blonde sharply turned to the new recruit’s direction. Sure enough, Kori seemed to be standing awfully close to Donald—and not further from her, she could eye Mary Elise obviously flirting with another Treble. Damn it.

Stacie touched her arm to grab her attention back, and when Aubrey met her eyes, all she saw was seriousness, seemingly done with their small talk.

“Look, I’m the last person who should question why you and your soulmate keep looking at Beca like you want to fuck her gently with a chainsaw—”

Aubrey’s face scrunched up, and her jaw dropped, “What in the world are you trying to insinu—”

“—but I will be the first person to decapitate your head and put it on a spike, if you and your soulmate think you can play your damn games with my best friend.”

The whole place seemed to get a _lot_ colder after that. But Stacie wasn’t finished. “Beca’s told me about your weird little quad time, and Chloe’s little dates. I don’t even want to get started about how you two snuck up on us earlier. That’s why I need you to know that Beca chooses her friends _very_ carefully, Aubrey, so she doesn’t get burned. Have the decency to fuck off, if you guys play with fire.”

There was a beat of silence between them.

And to be honest, Stacie’s speech was quite intimidating. But Aubrey was also feeling slightly and unfoundedly attacked. The things Stacie was insinuating were _uncalled_ for, and true, Chloe can be painfully oblivious where physical boundaries are concerned, but her soulmate has always had the kindest intentions, even for people who never deserved it. And it was _Beca_ who had reached out to her in the quad, not Aubrey. The following days that resulted from it seemed more like a business deal to Aubrey than anything: cookies for space.

Okay, the last thought did sound kind of ridiculous, but still. She and Chloe were _not_ playing games with her, and they do _not_ eye fuck the alt girl.

“Seriously, that’s what you’re going to say?”

What, did Aubrey say the last part out loud? She must’ve, because Stacie gestured towards where Beca was and Stacie’s face said, _exhibit A_.

Chloe had made her way towards the alt girl, and grabbed her hands, suddenly jerking the brunette to her face. If Aubrey didn’t have complete faith in her soulmate, from this angle, she would assume that they were making out. And then, Beca pulled away, and Chloe jiggled her butt before heading down towards them. _See?_ Stacie’s lifted eyebrow told Aubrey.

“One last thing—an advice,” Stacie leaned down on Aubrey, whispering by her ear. “Beca never gets burned _twice_.”

But before the captain could make sense of it, music blares all over them. The whole party lights up and everyone gathers around in response. Stacie left her, just as Chloe arrived. “C’mon, Bree—let’s dance!”

* * *

Beca was drunk. And a drunker Stacie was going to kill her. They had agreed that Beca was going to be the sober one tonight.

But maybe, Stacie could just kill Jesse instead. It was the Treblemaker who kept on insisting that she needed to get to his level. And like Beca said, Jesse wasn’t too bad a company, so she had indulged him cup after cup…after cup.

Yeah, Beca wasn’t feeling too good. Luckily, she was able to spot her best friend dancing in the crowd with some random a capella douche. She may or may not have also seen Stacie with two heads. Whatever. “Jessee, I’m going to get Stacieee noow.”

The Treblemaker blinked, and then grinned dopily. “Hehe. Great idea, I’ll come too, but hold on.”

“WE ARE THE KINGS OF CAMPUS!”

Beca tried not to cringe as she made her way down with the treble pup trailing behind. It took a lot of stumbling down, and it didn’t help that the ground seemed to be changing slope by the minute. But sure enough, she managed to tumble towards her best friend, and effectively shoved whoever Stacie was dancing with to the floor.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?!”

Oops. Beca giggled. “Ah-oh, Stacie definitely won’t be sleeping with you now.” And then, the DJ looked down at the tent in the dude’s pants that was obviously showing. “But then again, I doubt she was going to do anything at all with a junior like that in your pants.”

Then things got blurry after that. All Beca remembered, was the junior dude charging at her, and Stacie holding him back. Beca may or may not have puked at junior dude’s shoes while Jesse held her hair up. And everything went black.

But when she woke up, it was anything but.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I appreciate the kudos, the comments, the bookmarks, and all the hits this fic got! Thank you so much!
> 
> Most of your questions are going to be answered as the stories progress (some earlier than others), but keep 'em coming whenever you got one :)
> 
> I'll also apologize in advance if this gets updated irregularly. I moved to a different dorms, and the internet connection in my new one is down...it sucks.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy this chapter :)


	4. Beca wakes up like any regular da—HAHAHAHA jk

As much as Beca tried her best to make sure she never met her soulmate, she couldn’t deny that there were times she found herself imagining the different scenarios that could play out when she inevitably failed to. But none of the scenarios ever came close to this: waking up with a raging headache in some stranger’s apartment, only to faint when she registers that the apartment was in anything _but_ blue.

Beca fainted twice.

The third time she wakes up, the hell of a headache does nothing to distract the panic that surges within her whole being. She bolted off the bed, and it’s only then that she realized she wasn’t alone. In her haste, she knocked the other occupant to the floor with a resounding _thud_.

Beca ignores the outcry, and runs off to the first door she runs into, hoping it was the exit—it wasn’t. The room she walked into turned out to be a bathroom. It was a consolation price; the bathroom was in all white and black tiles, white and black walls.

“Beca? What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

So the bed’s other occupant turned out to be Stacie. Relief floods through Beca’s system, which wasn’t what she really needed right now. Relief made her put her guard down and let the panic hit her in full force not a moment later.

“Beca, what’s going on?”

“Nothing is blue!” is all she shouted with a whimper escaping. Beca doesn’t know how long Stacie banged on the door, before resorting to opening it by force—not that the DJ had the presence of mind to lock it anyway.

* * *

 

Even with her eyes shut, the DJ could feel Stacie’s eyes going back and forth between her and the road. On a normal day, Beca would be worried; Stacie wasn’t the best driver to begin with. But right now, she had more important things to do than worry about her best friend’s driving. Namely, trying to figure out how to shut her brain down as easy as she was shutting her eyes.

They stopped by a convenience store. Bless Stacie for thinking of buying blue tinted shades; it was only then that Beca opened her eyes again. Soul Shades were meant to be used for soulmates who just found each other, and find all the colors overwhelming. The tint of their choosing would slowly fade over time, easing the users into the new colors about them. Beca is relieved to think she still has a couple of hours to cling to her perfectly blue world.

“Sooo,” Stacie said cautiously. The DJ sighed, knowing that she couldn’t put this off any longer.

“What happened?” Beca asked, at the same time Stacie said, “Who is it?”

One could’ve heard a pin being dropped from a mile away. The two brunettes gave each other incredulous stares, although the DJ’s unbelieving gaze seemed more strained. This time, Stacie stopped the car, and parked them on the side of the road.

She casted a concerned look at the smaller girl, gaging her up. But to Stacie’s surprise, it was the DJ who initiated the conversation. Beca blurted out—almost demanded in panic, tinged with a slight sense of helplessness. “What happened last night, Stacie?”

Stacie pinched the bridge of her nose. “What do you even remember?”

A headache shot through Beca as she tried to recall. “A guy with a small dick? I don’t know, Stace…I remember puking, and Jesse holding my hair up? I—”

“—Shit, it’s the treble boy?!”

Beca’s eyebrows met in frustration. It couldn’t be Jesse. She could still remember puking her guts out in different shades of blues. Vomit wasn’t supposed to be in shades of blues, was it? Beca’s headache was getting more prominent now, and she could feel the dread slowly creep up inside her. It was going to eat her inside.

“Stace, just tell me what happened,” she said. “That apartment, where did we end up in? How? Who _touched_ me last night? _Please_ , just _tell_ me.”

Stacie looked like she ate a pack of nails and it got stuck on hear throat. This time and despite being parked, the engineering student’s eyes were overly glued to the road. “I…I-I’m not sure.”

The DJ tried to quell the anger brewing inside her, “What do you mean you’re _not sure_?” She demanded. She saw Stacie visibly gulp, but the driver didn’t reply. Beca tried again, her voice was steely and demanding, “Stacie. What. Aren’t. You. Telling. Me.”

Stacie cringed, “You passed out. And I wasn’t sober enough to walk us back to our car, let alone drive us to dorm; neither was Jesse. And then…”

“And then?”

“Beca, I _don’t know_. I’m sorry, but I don’t…”

“ _Stacie_ ,” Beca hissed at her best friend’s hesitance. Air suddenly seemed like poison to her, and she wanted someone to just violently rip out the proverbial band aid to get it over with.

Stacie choked out, “Aubrey rushed over to see the commotion—she caught you just before you passed out head first to the ground. She got our car keys, insisted to drive us back to their apartment, because it was nearer, ‘safer that way.’”

Beca stared at Stacie like a gaping fish. Some part of her kept waiting for the double major to suddenly just shout ‘Kidding!’ A part of her has been waiting for some higher being to pause her life since she woke up with colors screaming at her face.

Neither Stacie nor a higher being did any of those. So Beca did the only thing she could do. She continued gaping at her best friend and said, so softly, so brokenly, “ _Aubrey_.”

Stacie’s face hardened as a reaction, and Beca’s eyes narrowed. “What _else_ are you not telling me?” Beca demanded. And suddenly, Beca was eager for the possibility that someone else was involved. Someone—anyone _besides Aubrey._ Beca felt hope—

The engineering student bit her lip, as if she could possibly imagine the pain her words would bring the DJ. “I passed out the moment they put me in bed—I’m _so_ sorry…but I remember Chloe saying she’d clean up the vomit on your face first.”

—less. Hopeless.

 “Okay,” the DJ says, her tone almost hysterically. “What _else_ happened?”

Stacie looked away, shaking her head. And it took Beca a full minute to comprehend what the shaking of her head meant.

Aubrey. Chloe. Aubrey. Chloe. Aubrey. Chloe. Aubrey. Chloe. Aubrey. Chloe. Aubrey. Chloe.

“ **No** ,” she began. “No, no—you’re not allowed to do that. There has to be something else that happened, right?” _There’s got to be someone else that happened to come along_.

Stacie’s silence was deafening.

And Beca’s world caved in…As much as she found herself imagining the different scenarios of meeting her soulmate, she was still adamant about wanting to never meet hers. Because, she refused to allow a stranger to give her color, to fuck up her life with yellows and reds, only to drain it out of her when they leave—that’s why she developed a very strong aversion and awareness to people’s touches.

And she absolutely refuses to give someone’s life color—she is _repulsed_ to be the color in someone’s life. She is utterly horrified of needing to be the color in someone’s life, only to take it back, when she inevitably fails to be what they need—that’s why she started wearing gloves. The _gloves_.

Just when Stacie was starting to worry about the silence, Beca starts laughing. Hysterically. “The gloves!” she exclaimed. “My gloves were supposed to make soulmates a joke—but all this time, _the joke was on me_ , wasn’t it?”

* * *

 

“You’re leaving.”

It wasn’t a question. And if something could be said flatly and disbelievingly so at the same time, Stacie had in that moment. The engineering student had only left the brunette to park their stupid car, but she’s already found the DJ half-way through packing her stuff.

Beca laughed bitterly, “Do you honestly expect me to _stay_?”

Stacie cringed. Yes, she had expected this. Stacie, however, wasn’t sure whether or not leaving just like that was particularly the right answer to the fucked-up situation her best friend has found herself in. But then again, Stacie had no idea what Beca needed the most right now either.

“I’ll book us the earliest flight out of here, if you… _really_ want to leave,” is what Stacie ends up saying. But the way she said it was…odd. It made Beca abruptly stop her haste-packing, and look at her suspiciously.

Beca was very familiar with the tone that Stacie had used. She uses the same tone whenever her best friend felt like she knew something better than the DJ did. It was the same tone that got her to consider her father’s offer at Barden in the first place. She narrowed her eyes, “Stacie, what are you trying to say?”

And where was the leggy brunette getting at exactly? Right now, Beca’s brain has reduced this entire mess to a very simple situation: she found her soulmate without finding out her soulmate. It was perfect for her, actually!

Whether it was Aubrey or Chloe, it didn’t matter anymore. Beca was under no obligation to be under some stranger’s expectations for said stranger’s needs. And she wouldn’t have to feel guilty about leaving anyone behind because her soulmate had someone else. Wasn’t that what she wanted in the first place?  She was free.

~~And hallow~~.

“So you don’t want to figure out which of them it is?” Stacie asked carefully. Beca snorted, and replied snarky, “It doesn’t really matter who’s which, isn’t it? It doesn’t really matter _at all_ , and I don’t believe in soulmates, remember? _I don’t care_.”

Stacie continued to stare at her as the DJ proceeded to pack all the necessary things she’d need. She could feel the heaviness of her best friend’s gaze. “If that’s true, then why are you hell bent on getting out of here as fast as you can? If you really don’t care, then why does it look like you’re running away with your tail tuck between your legs?”

For the second time today, Beca found herself abruptly stopping her actions. _The fucker was right_.

Why was she so in a hurry to leave? A headache shot through her like some kind of jolt. Fucking devil, her actions, thoughts and feelings were contradicting each other—none of it was making sense even to Beca herself. It’s in this moment that she allows herself to sink into her bed.

Aubrey. Chloe. Aubrey. Chloe. Aubrey. Chloe. Aubrey. Chloe.

Did it really _not_ matter?

Yes, it really didn’t. And although Beca could never have expected all of this to happen the way it did, she couldn’t deny that this should have made things easier for her. So why did she just hysterically start packing her bags with every intent to leave?

“You’re scared,” Stacie said softly. Still, it jolted Beca out of her reverie, and she shot the future engineer a glare…that melted. The DJ couldn’t really find it in her to defensively push Stacie away. Not with the rest of the emotional turmoil she felt. So instead, Beca’s gaze was a juxtaposition of challenge, bewilderment, and deflation. “What in the world would I be scared—”

“Scared that you’re wrong. You’re scared that if you stay, you’ll start questioning yourself and your beliefs. You’re actually happy that you don’t know which of them is it, aren’t you? And you’re scared that if you stay, you’ll find out who.”

Beca blanched. Sometimes, she hated how smart and perceptive Stacie was. She hated how well Stacie knew her too. Now was one of those times. And if the DJ was going to be honest with herself, she was also jealous of how much Stacie understands Beca’s thought process—sometimes better than she did herself.

“But the thing about finding out is that it’ll make you want to know _more_ , won’t it, Beca? You’re afraid you won’t be able to stop wanting more even when it forces you to actually face the unrequitedness of it all—and you’re _afraid_ that when you do, it’ll _hurt_.”

Utter silence. For a moment, Stacie was convinced that she said too much. That is until she watched the series of emotions flash through Beca’s face. First was the shock, then disbelief, a flash of anger, and then denial, “Dude, _no!_ I _fucking_ told you. It doesn’t matter who the hell it is, and damn you, the hell will it matter if I find out who!”

Stacie smiled so sweetly and innocently, you’d think she was a child who just got promised a cookie past midnight.

“Perfect, so that means you’ll stay.” This time, the innocent smile turned into a triumphant smirk as Stacie kissed Beca’s cheek, and began unpacking the luggage Beca had brought out.

Beca’s mouth was left hanging open for the rest of the night.

* * *

 

Chloe was guilty she wasn’t putting her 100% attention to the meeting, but then again, she was also quite content to allow her soulmate to mostly take over the Bella’s first meet up, because she knows how important this and the sense of control over all the things Aubrey held important was to the blonde. Chloe’s just going to have to make it up to Aubrey later tonight with a wonderful stay-in date to help her relax.

For now, Chloe’s thoughts were on something—someone else. She worried over the two brunettes who had crashed in their apartment last night. Okay fine, she was worried about _one_ brunette, in particular. In Chloe’s defense, the little DJ did puke her guts out and promptly pass out after last night. Not to mention that both brunettes suddenly disappeared this morning with only a note that said _thanks xoxo_. Despite the scrawny hand writing, the redhead doubted Beca was someone who ended notes with x’s and o’s.

Speak of the devil. “Dude, Mary Elise just passed by us bawling her eyes out.”

Chloe finds herself smiling widely as the two brunettes entered the auditorium and pulled up their seats. The smile, however, wavers as she observes that the shorter brunette seemed a little…edgy…her eyes seemed to be darting everywhere.

Aubrey’s voice snaps her out of her thoughts. “You’re late, and Mary Elise has been disinvited from the Bellas, because of having been Treble-boned.”

“That oath was serious?”

Chloe tries not to look too amused with the exchanged that went on. Aubrey doesn’t need her exuberantly jolly mode. Like she said, the redhead knows how important first meetings are for Aubrey, and Chloe is sure Bree would appreciate a more soothing presence from her.

Beca doesn’t help make it easier.

Honestly, the easy (and slightly provoking) banter between the two of them makes Chloe even more disbelieving of the supposed silences the two share during the weekdays. But then again, Chloe didn’t expect Beca to keep challenging her soulmate’s words today as often as she did. It was like Beca was purposefully trying to egg the blonde even more so than usual.

In fact, Beca seemed…off today. She didn’t fail to notice how tense the brunette was. And besides the few times she smirked at Aubrey, Beca seemed to be trying to avoid eye contact with anyone. It made Chloe slightly worried. Did they leave early and arrive late because something happened?

Although, Stacie didn’t seem to be _too_ off.

While further observation would prove that Beca was slightly acting like a caged animal, Stacie looked sharp and on high alert. Chloe had to give it to her, the leggy brunette was a good actor and was feigning nonchalance quite well. She had looked at Aubrey with such an innocent and inquisitive expression before saying, “You said scales and then something about spaghettios?”

Aubrey groans, “ _Arpeggios_. God help me.”

That was Chloe’s cue to assign herself to Stacie for the exercises, even if she had wanted to be assigned to Beca instead—Chloe was very much invested on getting to know the DJ better. Beca was too interesting for the redhead not to be. Even just remembering how Beca drunkenly called some random guy’s junk small last night before puking on him made Chloe want to giggle at the silliness of it all.

A part of Chloe regrets choosing Stacie over Beca even more as they go along the practice. For one, she could hear Aubrey and Beca bantering it out every now and then. The redhead’s slightly afraid one of the two might murder the other, at this rate. But more than that, she noticed Stacie casting her the oddest of glances that the redhead couldn’t decipher for the life of her. When she couldn’t take it anymore, she decided to start a conversation.

“Have to say, Aubrey and I didn’t think you had it in you guys to wake up that early in the morning, let alone be capable enough to move, _and_ be late.” Chloe said, joking.

Stacie laughed, as if trying to shake off the unease she was feeling. The laugh seemed to have attracted Beca’s attention, since the DJ casted a questioning glance their way. That’s another thing Chloe noticed today. The two brunettes seemed to be hovering each other, and while Chloe had understood that they were quite close, this was the first time they acted like this, almost as if they were…protective of each other?

“It’ll take more than that to have us down that long. Thanks, again for last night,” she says wiggling her eyebrows as to make the last statement sexual.

By the time practice was over, everyone was dog tired. A soft smile graced Chloe’s lips as she noticed Aubrey satisfyingly smirking at all the sweating and panting Bellas. After some last announcements, the Bellas left one by one, leaving Chloe and Aubrey to clean up the auditorium. And just when they thought everyone had left, Stacie had shoved Beca towards the two captains. Aubrey raised an eyebrow.

“I, er, um, thanks? For last night sleeping the car—”

_Uh, what?_

Stacie elbowed her tiny counterpart, and the little DJ awkwardly cleared her throat and tried again. “We wanted to say thanks for driving us back to your apartment and letting us sleep for the night.”

Chloe beamed at her. The DJ couldn’t get more adorable than this. And although Aubrey’s lifted eyebrow seemed to suggest otherwise, there was a hint of amusement twinkling in her eyes. If anything, Aubrey seemed to be stretching the silence between them just to see the brunette squirm a bit more. Chloe mentally shakes her head at the two of them, and decides to intervene.

“No problem, Becs! We’re your captains after all,” Chloe chirped. The DJ raised her eyebrows at the sudden nickname, and there was something slightly sickening with the way Stacie were watching them with amusement.

The leggy brunette smirked at them (with a twinkle in the eye as if she knew something that the three of them were missing), and said, “Well, if there’s something we can do to return the favor—especially since we left so suddenly, let us know.”

“Sure—”

“Actually, why did you two leave so early, and still came up late?”

It was Aubrey who asked, and for some reason, the two brunette’s stiffened. Chloe couldn’t place where the sudden tension came from. Beca seemed frozen on the spot.

“We had errands to run downtown. We stopped by Jean’s to grab a bite, and we kind of got stuck in traffic on our way back.”

Chloe smiled wider, “Jean’s, as in the café beside the Color Assimilation Institute? Oh! Bree, it’s been so long since we went back to the museum in CAI. We ate at Jean’s often too, when we went there for our color assimilation sessions, didn’t we?”

An uncommonly soft smile presented itself on Aubrey’s place, as the blond felt a little bit nostalgic. Neither of the two captains noticed Beca’s eye twitch at the blatant implication of their soulmate ship, nor did they see the apologetic glance Stacie casted her friend.

Beca forced a smile, “So, yeah, sorry about that. We’ll try not to be late again, next time.”

Stacie threw an arm around Beca’s shoulder, slightly leaning towards them. She looked at them with a flirty smile, and a glint her eyes, saying, “Throw us a text, and we’ll return the favor.” She then promptly dragged the tiny brunette out of the auditorium.

Chloe turned to her soulmate, and gazed at her imploringly. She was silently questioning whether Aubrey also felt confusingly intrigued about the two brunettes who just left, and whether she too could feel this odd kind of pull to get to know the smaller one better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the hits, kudos, bookmarks, and support, guys.  
> Happy New Year!


	5. Of Favors and Bets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because people asked, I'm just gonna put this here again:
> 
> [Soulmate AU! where you only see the world in one color (besides blacks and whites). You need to be **touched by your soulmate's hand** to see the world in full color.]
> 
> Hope you guys can see Chloe and Aubrey's problem now, considering that Beca still wears her gloves (Not that Chloe and Aubrey can see it, or know they actually have a problem either mwahahaha).
> 
> Shout out to Flavia for picking it up :)

**[Blue Eyes]** : Think im gonna $$ in the favor !!!

Beca’s hands twitched. She was tempted to grab the car keys and go for a drive. It was something she often did to clear her head, and something that seemed to be happening whenever she interacted with a certain blonde and a certain redhead. Beca sighed.

**[miniDJ]** : Huh. What d’you need?

She decided against taking a drive. She’s sure that if she went on one more spontaneous ride this week, the leggy brunette will demand they buy another car, instead of sharing one. But it’s not like Beca could help it.

Beca groaned. The more time she spends in college, the more she questioned what she was doing with her life here in Barden. Yes, it was Stacie who ultimately convinced her to take up her father’s offer, who convinced her of the benefits of attending. And Barden was supposed to be about that. Acquiring benefits that would help her become an even better music producer in the long run. Just that.

She doesn’t want to acknowledge how easy it could become more than that. Mostly, it’s because she honestly couldn’t comprehend how she was capable of caring about _more_ things ~~(and people)~~ outside of Stacie, Brand and her dreams. She’s already patronized and spoiled herself enough by biting at the first excuse she gets to spend more time by Stacie’s side.

She doesn’t want to think about how endearing the Bella’s were becoming to her. Seriously, how does one endear herself to another by randomly stealing $20 from the other? She was sure it was Fat Amy. And she was also sure Cynthia Rose and Denise had seen her in one of her DJ gigs, and had been giving her these knowing looks since then. She _definitely_ tries not to think too hard about some of the things she heard from Lily Nakamura. And she also doesn’t know why she cares enough to be embarrassed that she can’t tell Jessica and Ashley apart. Heck, if she was being generously honest, she’d admit that she was starting to warm up to the treble pup from her internship.

**[Blue Eyes]** : Bree bailed on fri movie nyt. Fill in for her ???

Ah, and of course, the Bella’s captains. It’s mortifying how much she thinks about them—especially the redhead. It’s even more messed up that one of them may or may not be her unrequited soulmate…that she didn’t care about.

**[miniDJ]** : Dude, Stace owes you a favor too. Get her to do it.

Beca’s been trying her best not to let it drive her insane. The first few weeks were horrible. And Chloe had enjoyed teasing and pointing it out whenever she caught the DJ staring at the redhead’s hair or her eyes. Beca doesn’t even want to think about how judging Aubrey’s eyes were on the times the blonde had caught her staring at El Capitan’s hair and eyes too. But Taco Bell be damned, she can’t seem to deny herself the amazement of the colors whichever of them had given her. And sweet Jesus did the colors look _good_ on them. She’s gotten better at controlling the staring, though.

But still, everything feels like bullshit really, and it’s that belief of bullshittery that had allowed Beca to finally interact normally with the two captains. Beca knows Stacie would disagree with her, both about its bullshitness, and about Beca’s interaction being anywhere near “normal” or “smooth.”

Although not generally a sappy person, Stacie believes that a soulmate is someone who has the greatest potential to change you. She believes that they’re the people who would help you grow the most (there’s a height joke in there somewhere, Beca was sure), and that their presence doesn’t necessarily need to be romantic—they’re just someone who you need to be a part of your life.

(It’s probably that thinking that gets in the way of any progress in Stacie and Brand’s relationship…that and Brand’s own set of issues. But Beca doesn’t want to get into that. God knows what a mess her involvement in it has made of their relationship already.)

So, yeah, Stacie believes in all that crap, which is why said brunette approves of how much Beca seemed to be spending time with the redhead and the blonde. Honestly though, it’s not like she has much of a choice. Blue Eyes often bulldozes her way into Beca’s schedule. And the DJ still doesn’t understand her hyperawareness for El Capitan’s presence.

Honestly though, what really gets to her is the amount of care she seems to have involving those two. And involving the Bellas for that matter. Beca is damn afraid of caring—she doesn’t know if she’s capable of caring more. She’s afraid that if she did, she’s not going to have enough space for her dreams. Caring is a distraction. More than that, it’s begging for hurt.

**[Blue Eyes]:** Whut, do u not like movies or something? Bree already used our favor from Stacie :( :( :( Please??

**[miniDJ]** :  uh, nope. I really don’t…can’t you find someone else then?

**[Blue Eyes]** : LOL. Somehow that actually fits u. Fyn. Not movies. Let’s do smthng other thn movies.

**[Blue Eyes]** : WAIT A MINUTE !!!

**[Blue Eyes]** : DOES THAT MEAN YOU ALSO DON’T LIKE MUSICALS???? O.o O.o X.x

**[Blue Eyes]** :  REPLY ASAP

**[Blue Eyes]** : THIS IS IMPORTANT

**[miniDJ]** : tf, Chloe? I don’t know, I’ve never really watched one, to be honest.

**[Blue Eyes]** : I DON’T KNOW IF THAT’S ANY BETTER. I KNOW WHAT WE’RE GONNA DO ON FRI.

**[Blue Eyes]** : AND YOU CAN’T SAY NO TO ME :3

And truly, that too was one of the things Beca feared the most.

**oOo**

For a moment, Aubrey forgets the gut churning feeling in her stomach, and the heavy burden she feels on her shoulders. She’s suddenly glad that a couple of junior Bellas had owed her a favor—specifically, she was glad that Stacie Conrad had owed her a favor. Not that Stacie seemed to be minding at the minute. No, the engineering student seemed to be gracefully at ease as she interacted with the people in the party.

**[ChloBear]** : Beca is totes eating d musicals up XD. Hope ur at least hving fun :*

Her peace and relief is shattered with guilt as the blonde reads her soulmate’s text. Tonight was supposed to be Friday Movie Night. And she called it off for the second time in a row; this time, it was for this stuck up party of Barden’s Students of Honor and Excellence. Aubrey would like nothing more than to have her redhead all gathered up in their arms, basking in the comfort the blonde is capable of giving her soulmate. But this was the first of the two major gatherings of SHE, an honor society necessary to Aubrey’s future connections and her father’s approval.

Which led her to asking Stacie Conrad for a favor. To be honest, Aubrey is barely making time for everything she needs to do. She’s one of the candidates for college valedictorian, so a lot was riding up on this semester. Not to mention the Bellas.

This year’s Bellas was supposed to be for Chloe, because the blonde knows how much her soulmate loved the Bellas. All through their junior year, Aubrey had promised her lover that she would fill up the family Chloe sees in the Bellas and make this year her best a capella season the redhead has ever had…but then pukegate happened. And Aubrey has no idea how to come through with said promise, while redeeming her dignity—another necessary thing for her father’s approval.

Between everything going on, Aubrey had absolutely no time to find a recruit for the SHE society. And that would’ve made her more of a laughing stock if she hadn’t found an outstanding recruit in her _senior_ year, of all years. _Dios mio_ , bless Stacie Conrad’s soul.

“Lord, your people are seriously intense, Aubrey,” Stacie comments as she slides down to the chair beside the blonde, and takes a sip of wine.

Aubrey raised an eyebrow, “You seemed to be doing well, as far as I could tell.”

The brunette just shook her head and laugh. “No, I mean, they’re pretty passionate about their fields— _that_ I can relate. But all these social networking necessities they play with each other—now, that’s what I’m calling _intense_.”

It was Aubrey’s turn to laugh, “Kind of why I needed this favor.”

Before Stacie could respond, her phone vibrated. The blonde watched the brunette’s eyes lit up as she read a text and tried to suppress a chuckle. Aubrey wonders who could put a smile like that on her.

“Sorry, that was Beca. Looks like she’s enjoying whatever your redhead prepared for her tonight,” she explained, and Aubrey tries her best to excuse her junior’s habit of seemingly sexualizing everything she says.

Aubrey also tried to ignore the fact that it was the hobbit who was making up for Aubrey’s lack of time. She knew all too well just how much Chloe seemed to enjoy the hobbit’s company and how often the redhead tries to find it. And Aubrey didn’t like how accepting she found herself of that fact…was she though? The thought of it acts like some kind of slap in the face that Aubrey is failing to balance her life, to balance her responsibilities and her soulmate’s happiness. Again, she also didn’t like all the questions that the thought of Beca brings—and speaking of questions about the alt girl. Aubrey wasn’t one to pass up an opportunity to satiate her curiosity. So as nonchalantly as possible she said, “Yes, I guess exchanging soulmates with each other for one night, didn’t turn out too bad.”

The reaction was immediate.

Stacie seemed to have almost choked on her wine, her eyes slightly widened. The brunette laughed, but the way she looked at Aubrey told the blonde that her junior was slightly on to her. “Yeeaaaah, just noo. Beca and I are _not_ soulmates. Whatever gave you that idea, Aubrey?”

The blonde tried to look sheepish, “Sorry, it’s just that I noticed one earring that Beca uses never changes? It kind of looks the one you always use. I thought it might be bands. And since you’ve always seemed protective of her...” _from us,_ is what Aubrey didn’t add.

To be fair, Aubrey and Stacie have been getting along well this past few weeks. They haven’t had anything close to an argument since Stacie and Beca had arrived late to the Bella practice. And to her pleasure, the two brunettes haven’t really been late since.

There had been a new development, though.

Ever since their first practice, she had noticed that the alt girl had started watching? Staring? Gazing at Aubrey and Chloe _often_. And she had caught Stacie watching the alt girl watch them…Aubrey chalks it up to the fact that Chloe’s been spending a _lot_ of time with the brunette.

Beca has been the topic of their conversations _frequently_. One of the most common subject would be about Beca’s refusal to let the redhead hear her mixes, and the hobbit’s violent protectiveness over her headphones. Aubrey doesn’t think Beca could find a way to be more alt than she already was.

So Aubrey assumes that Chloe also talks Beca’s ears off about them. And just maybe, that’s why Beca gazes had been awfully and obviously laced with some sort of curiosity…and another emotion that Aubrey couldn’t quite place.

Whatever the case, Aubrey at least had found out one thing: she had been mistaken. Beca and Stacie could see colors for sure—which leads back to the conversation at hand.

Stacie threw her a skeptical look before relaxing. “Well, you’re right on one account. They’re definitely bands—but no, Beca’s not mine,” is the brunette’s reply, and Aubrey wondered whether she actually saw a hint of wistfulness to her response, or maybe she was just reading too much at the softness of her junior’s eyes. “We’re just close—have always been close, I guess. She’s family.”

There was a finality to her tone, and Aubrey knew she would be uncomfortable to say more, so their conversation went elsewhere. It wasn’t hard. The brunette was good at keeping the conversation going, and both girls seemed surprised to find themselves liking each other’s company. Aubrey felt she could be good friends with the girl.

**oOo**

Stacie was becoming good friends with Aubrey Posen, and Beca wants to kill the brunette for it. Okay, fine, she knows that it can’t be help, given that her best friend had apparently been recruited to El Capitan’s prissy org, and Stacie happened to take a liking to said org. But still, seriously? Stacie was smart AF; surely, there were countless others who could have taken notice and recruited her instead. Couldn’t it have been anyone that _isn’t_ Aubrey? _She returned her favor_ , she says. Beca scoffed.

Oh how the universe took pleasure in mocking her. How was she supposed to avoid caring about anything to do with the two of them, when she seemed to have become a magnet for the redhead, and her best friend randomly talks about the blonde?

For shit’s sake. She can’t even be at peace in the fucking quad, anymore. Not since Stacie had oh-so casually dropped, “Aubrey actually seemed more stress lately. Seriously, even more than usual.” As if Beca didn’t have some kind automatic unexplainable hyperawareness about the blonde already. And you know what? She’s spent the _whole_ week witnessing said stress levels from the blonde, and Beca is so _done_ with it. So speaking of being done with it—

“ _Hey!_ ”

And that was all the blonde was able to yelp in surprise over a sudden pair of headphones being placed over her ears. Because before she could say anymore, a piece of cookie was shoved in her mouth, and as she was about to protest and take it out, some kind of tumbler was shoved to her hands.

“ _Dude,_ you’ve been, like, fucking stressing over that same five fucking chapters of the same fucking book for the past five fucking days. And you don’t take your usual five fucking minute breaks—and just, damn you, I can seriously _feel_ all the tension radiating off you! I mean, listen to the shit I’ve been mixing! Angst! _So_ much fucking angst! And just—shit, just. Take a break, will you?”

Beca word vomited, and she wish the earth would swallow her up, because she was sure El Capitan was just about to spit the cookie she just shoved in her mouth back to Beca’s face and pour the contents of the tumbler all over her. But since the DJ was gonna die anyway, might as well word vomit the rest of the things that was on the tip on her tongue.

Her fingers fumbled over her laptop and she changed the angst-ridden music playing over Aubrey’s ears into something she just _knows_ would appeal to the blonde’s taste better, and she sighs a bit as she sees Aubrey slightly relax, before gingerly placing the bottle on the ground, and chewing the cookie. When the blond was finished, she started, “I’ll apologize if I was disturbing—”

“ _Jesus,_ you still missed the point. _You_ ,” Beca began again, steely eyes met Aubrey’s green ones—and God knows how often the blonde’s (and the redhead’s) eyes blow Beca away—but yeah, no, she can’t get distracted by her eyes (which was just slightly lighter than Stacie’s— _stop it, Mitchell_ ) right now, because she was trying to make a point. She pointed her finger to her Bella’s captain. “are going to stop forgetting your five fucking minute breaks, and eat the damn cookies Chloe makes us while you take sips of that stupid coffee goodness—yes goodness. I _know_ how much you need the coffee to operate the god damn stick up your ass. So you will fucking spend those five minutes listening to my God-sent music till the stick up your ass crawls out, before burying yourself back to those five chapters that I’m pretty convinced you’ve memorized by now—I mean, I know it’s prelims, but seriously! _Dude_ , you’re wearing yourself out, and Stacie knows, _and_ Chloe knows, _and_ I’ve been seeing it every single fucking _day_.”

Beca actually _huffs_ when she’s done, and she sends out a random curse to her father. She had inherited his pale nature, and it’s her paleness that makes it easy to see the red creeping into Beca’s cheeks. In the future, she’ll say it was due to out of breath. But really, she was just too embarrassed about her sudden outburst.

A moment passed as Aubrey stared incredulously at the little hobbit in front of her blushing away with a scowl in her face, looking everywhere but back at the blonde. Beca wanted to bang her head on her laptop, when the captain responded. “I don’t think there was a sentence there without at least a cuss in it.”

_Seriously, woman? That’s what she got from everything I said?_

**oOo**

And of course, Stacie finds the story hilarious. Beca tells her about it when the brunette found folders named “Chloe” and “Aubrey” in the DJ’s laptop, and Beca had to use all her power and might to grab her precious laptop before the tall brunette opened any of the files inside. And worse, Beca found out why Stacie and her brother have been _overly_ interested in her interactions with the redhead and the blonde. All those Skype calls spent on dissecting the time Beca spent with the two potential soulmate finally made sense.

“You made a _bet_ about which of them was my soulmate?!”

Stacie squeaked, “It was Brand’s idea!”

Beca crossed her arms, “Funny how my brother said the same thing the other way around.”

Stacie snorted, “Oh, c’mon, you know how much we like placing bets on things we’ll most likely never find answers on.”

_Ouch_. Okay, for some reason that just pissed Beca off more. But then again, they actually do make stupid bets like that. Beca thought back on their ongoing bet about Beca’s height…Damn it, everything was just starting to piss her off.

Beca’s face scrunched up, as she demanded, “At least tell me who you betted on?”

And Stacie got this mischievous look on her face, “Why do you ca~are?”

But Beca just looked at her unamused—too curious to be patient about Stacie’s teasing. Stacie often won bets (and Brand was a sore loser: making bets they’ll never know the answer to seemed like a great pacifier), so sue Beca for being curious.

“I betted on Aubrey.”

“Aubrey?!”

Then Stacie’s Cheshire smile was back as she said, “Oooh, why, you wanted me to bet on Chloe, did you?”

Beca didn’t even want to give herself a chance to dwell on her best friend’s reply. “No, seriously, why Aubrey? The chick hates me, and we’re either ignoring each other or trying to rip each other’s throats out!”

Stacie just shook her head, and Beca tried not to cringe upon realizing she referred to tightwad El Capitan as a chick. “You wouldn’t know sexual tension if it was sitting beside you every day in the quad with your headphones on playing music from a folder that may or may not be named ‘Aubrey.’”

“ _Stacie!_ ”

“ _Beca_! Seriously though, I’d bet on Aubrey. You two have so much in common way more than you realized, and the potential angry make-up sex would be undoubtedly hot.”

“That isn’t any better!” Beca buries her head in the pillow, not knowing what else to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As usual, I really appreciate you reading this, the kudos, the bookmarks, the hits-any form of support really.  
> You guys are awesome, and I'm glad you like the story so far :)
> 
> Till the next update :)


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